If you’re wondering where Rome got its name from – wonder no more. We can thank the legend of Romulus and Remus for this (but we can pay particular thanks to Romulus).
According to myth and legend, Romulus was one of the twin sons of Mars and the Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia. He was found, alongside his brother, floating in a basket along the River Tiber after supposedly being abandoned by their mother.
Luckily for the twins, a she-wolf came across the bundle of babies. She looked after them and fed them before they were later raised by a shepherd family. Once the boys turned into adults, they left their shepherd upbringing and created a new settlement on the banks of the River Tiber, close to where they had been washed up as babies and the spot where Rome now sits.
One day, an augury in the form of a flock of birds revealed that Romulus should one day be king, and during a fight between the brothers, Romulus killed Remus and fully stepped into his role as king of Rome.
The settlement itself was located on one of the seven hills of Palatine and was only a small town at this point, but Romulus had big visions for the city. He gathered together a mishmash of shepherds to populate the city, but he needed more people. So, to bulk up the numbers, he invited the poor, the homeless, criminals, and those seeking asylum into Rome and told them to make it their home.
As a part of this, and to bring order to an unruly group of residents, Romulus began to lay down laws for his people. After this, he increased his own authority and began enforcing the laws through the twelve lictors that traveled with him. They were allowed to carry fasces with them (which were essentially axes wrapped in a bundle of rods) to bring everyone into line.
On top of instigating the very first laws of Rome, Romulus also created a social caste for his people to establish some semblance of order in the city. He started by assigning people the role of senator, a group of people that would help him rule and become the patrician class of Rome.
Soon it became apparent that, unless Romulus found some women to join his settlement, Rome would last no longer than a generation. To find wives for his people, he invited the neighbouring town of Sabines to come and visit Rome. But, whilst the neighbouring town was there, he ordered his men to carry off the women and hold them hostage for his own residents.
Once the fighting settled down, the women stayed in Rome and allowed the city to thrive for thousands of more years.
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